Signal-actuating device for dispatch systems



my 22; g 1924. y 1502327 u. A. BAUER SIGNAL AGTUATING 'nsvxcf'i'ma kmslwrcm s'smms Original Filled Allg. IUI 1822 A2Sheevxeet l Zzvewo:

A 95h71 @M7245 Bey @42% Y @WM J. A. BAUER SIGNAL ACTUATING DEVICE.FOR DISPATCH SYSEMS Original Filed Aug. 1Q, 1922 Sheetsheet 2 Patented July 22, 1924u ia arias ArENr 01;P1915k JOHN A. BAUER, 0F BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO THE LAMSON GOMPANX', OF SYRACUSE, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION. i'

SIGNAL-A GTUATING DEVGE FOR DISPATCH SYSTEMS.

Original application led August 10, 1922,5e1a1 No, 580,883. Divided. and this application .filled February 3, 1923.

T 0 all whom it may concer/a:

Beit known that I, JOHN A. BAUER, a citizen of the United States of America, and resident of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Signal- Actuating Devices for Dispatch Systems, of which the following is a specification.

This invention pertains to carrier dispatch systems and relates more particularly to central station apparatus therefor.

One type of central station arrangement which has given very satisfactory results comprises a desk having longitudinally distributed carrier delivery terminals all of which deliver their carriers upon an endless belt or other conveyer by means of which they are moved lengthwise of the desk for delivery to the cashiers or charge authorizers. Commonly the cashiers and charge authorizers sit at opposite sides of the desk and the cash and credit carriers move along the desk in two independent streams, switching devices being provided at suitable intervals for diverting the carriers into open troughs down which they slide to the sta tions of the several attendants. Arrange ments such as above outlined are'generally satisfactory and give good service in most cases, a typical example of such -a central station installation being disclosed in the patent to Whittier, No. 1,365,428, January 11', 1921. In certain situations, where by reason of limitation of space 4it is not possible to seat operatives at both sides of the desk, or when it is found expedient to have one set of attendants, as for example the charge authorizers, under closer supervision of the auditor or other responsible authority, it is desirable to deliver all ofthe carriers moving along one side of a desk to a relatively remote point, for instance, another floor of the building, where they may be distributed in any suitable manner among attendants there stationed, Van arrangement designed for this purpose being more specifically disclosed in my copending kapplication, Serial No. 580,883, filed Aug. 10,1922, of which this is a division, such arrangement also comprising as an element an inclinedopen trough or chute along which the carriers are guided toward vthe entrance to a pneumatic transmission tube.

Whenever, as in the above example, in a serial ub. 516,766.

conveyer' ksystem an inclined open troughor chute is employed foi.` guiding cari-ders,y ticularly if thev chute `be loftapering5 `form or be restricted y,at itsdelivery end,there is the possibility that by the sticking or clog'l gmg of a carrier descending the chute, succeeding carriers will bev caused to ride up upon such stationary carrier and `perhaps spill .out over the sides of the chute, y,orI if remaining within the chute cause aY general jam and suspension of traiiic in the system. The principal object-of the present invention is to provide a signal Ydevice applicable to a conveyer chute or Vtrough and adapted to announce 'any accidental ypiling up or jamming of the carriers therein, thusvgiving notice of such occurrenceto the person or persons responsible for y.keeping the system in operative condition'.r i

For convenience in illustration, the present invention has been shown as applied .to a central station apparatus ,of the general type disclosed in.- theabove noted patent to Whittier, but itis to be understoodthat in its broader aspects it isapplicableto carrier dispatch systems generally, whether of the pneumatic type or not. v

In the accompanying drawings: Y Fig. 1 is a fragmentary side elevation of a conveyer chute constructed in accordance with the 'present 'invention and provided with the improved signal actuating device: Fig. 2 isa Vfragmentary side elevation'of the discharge end of the chute ofF 1 having certain portions broken away to show more clearly the details of the signal actuating device, andr also showing the end of ,a transmission tube Aas secured to the eXtremity of the chute: Y Fig. '3 is an end elevation of the lower eX- tremity of the chute showing the signal actuating devices but omitting the transmission tube :y 1 f Y Fig. 4 is a fragmentary planview of the chute and the supporting .means for rthe signal actuating devices also omitting ythe Y on ,a line such as 6- 6 of Fig. 5. f

n formed bymenrdless belts 7, 8 respectively. These belts are constantly moved in the direction 'of the arrow A in,V Fig. 5 by means of'a Vsuitable motorarranged below the desk.

-" The'transmission tubeslO leading from the various substations are provided with automatic separators 11 of usualform which segregatethe charge and cash carriers and Y deliver them into the .terminals 3, 4 respectively from which they are discharged -onto Athe belts 7 and 8. Upon. one side of Vthe desk, stations forthe charge lauthorizfersare arranged, andfthis side of the desk 1s furnished with al longitudinally extending shellc or table 12onto which the carriers moving along. on the belt V7 may be delivered by means of inclined chutessuch'i'as 13 provided at their upper ends with deiiectors 16 having a'ctuatinghandles 17. By suitably setting .a delector.carriers moving along thelbelt may be caused to diverge from their i normalpathA and to pass down the correspending chute 13V onto thetable 12. rlhe oppositel side ofthe desk is provided with stations for the cashiers. and may be in all respects similar to'the side at which ythe charge authorizers are seated, the carriers moving along the belt 8 being" diverted from their normal path by' suitable delector Vdevices and depositedupon the table in front of `the' several cashiers. The vertical partitions or panels 15 which define the, outer sides of the'troughs', 6 respectively are provided with openingsv 18 through which the operators, afterthelproper transaction has been ma`de ,`rnayl drop the carrier'onto 'i an endless'belt v19 which extends, centrally of the table and by means of which the carriers areconveyed to' a table19a wherethe return operator is, ,seated` who' places the carriers in the proper receivingopenings of the return transmission tubes 21.Y

:The labove described arrangement is in common use. and ordinarily is adequate tor all' purposesfbut in some establishments it v, ispattimes' found desirable for variousreasons to cause all the carriers moving along one of theA belts 7 or 8 to be delivered direct-ly to' a common'pointremoved from the desk 4atvvhichthey are first delivered.

As"he'rein disclosed the carriers moving @lengths beu 7 may' au be deiivae'ed at such adistant point and for this purpose an open tiough'i'or inclined chute having a defiector 23 is provided ata point adjacent tothe right hand end of the desk, Vas viewed in Fig. 5. This trough or chute 22 is furnished with lateral Hanges 24, 25 (Fig. 4)

form a sleeve-like memberv 29 which is splitV longitudinally as indicated at 30. Bosses 31, 32 project from the sleeve at either side of the split and areprovided with aligned openings for the reception cfa clamping screw 33. This sleeve member withrits screw thus constitutes a clamp for the receiving end 34 of a pneumatic transmission tube 35 leading to any desired point.

The vide a bracket 36 having a'bearing at 37 in which a'pivotpin v38 is secured'. This pivot pin serves as the fulcrum for a bell cra-nk lever having a curved arm 39 constituting a feeler whose freek extremity is Ypositioned slightly above the normal ,path of movement of carriers such as 40 moving along the trough or chute and into the entrance 34 of the transmission tube. This bell crank lever also comprises the arm 41 which under-y lies the free extremity'of a curved spring 42 whose other end is secured at 43QtoY a block 44 of insulating materialrsecured to the bracket'36. The spring 42 isp'rovided with an electrical contact element cooperating with a second contact element carried at the end of a resilient member 45 secured at 45n to the block 44, the Contact yelements being normally spaced apart. The springs 42 and are electrically connected to binding posts 46, 47 respectively from' which conductor wires 48, 49 extend.' These conductor wires form parts of a suitable electrical cir'-V cuit comprising a: Vsounding device or other signal such'for example as a bell B whereby upon completion of the circuit between the Contact elements carried by the springs 42 and 45, an alarm will be given. Y

Tt it be desiredto deliver all of the charge carriers to a remote point,`the'def1eetors 16 corresponding tothe several chutes 13 are positioned/to cover the entrances tothe respective chutes while the deflector 23 is set as indicated in Fig. 1. Whenthus arranged, all of theca-rriers delivered from the bank of terminals73 will be swept vfrom the belt 7 lby the deflectorI 23v and will slide down the bottom wall 280i: the chute 22. As'the carriersgreach the lower 'end' of thechute they pass into the receiving end 34 ofthe pneumatic suction tube This suction tube may be of any vusual type'such forexample as is indicated by Vthe numeral 4 in boss 31 is continued upwardly to prowith the terminal portion of the chute andV the .patent to Libby No. k.,5 fi, iied August 30, 1910 .and by means .oit `the tuhe the carriers may be-,deliverdat' any desired -fpoint Where the y maybe distributed to operators by meanslof a ,movingy belt, inclinedichut., or in any other desired manner. Y

If during theopeiiation of the device as above described, a carrier should for any reason become stalled or jammed in the entrance to the tube 35 so that succeeding carriers would ride up thereon as indicated in broken lines at 50 in Fig. 2, one of the i-mproperly placed carriers would contact with the `leeler arm 39 oit' the bell crank lever, thus swinging the lever to the position of Fig. 2 and completing the electrical alarm circuit through the spring members 4:2 and 45. The person responsible for maintaining the system in voperative condition would thus be notified and the obstruction removed` While the alarm device forming the subject-matter of the present invention as herein illustrated is applied to the delivery end of a tapering and downwardly inclined chute discharging into the end of a suction tube, the invention is not limited to such specific application or location of the signal actuating elements but is capable of use With chutes or troughs of other speciiic shape or arrangement and irrespective of the type of carrier or of the element into or onto Which carriers emerging from the chute or trough may be del-ivered.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

l, A carrier dispatch system having a central station comprising a trough along Which carriers may fmove, said trough having sides gradually merging into a tubular sleeve at its delivery end, a conveyer tube secured to the delivery end of the trough for receiving carriers therefrom, and signal means adjacent to the tubular delivery end of the` trough for indicating the clogging of the delivery end of the trough with'carriers.

2. A carrier dispatch system comprising a chute for guiding carriers, the terminal vportion of the chute being of tubular form,

a conveyer tube secured to the tubular end of the chute, a movable member associated comprising a feeler element positioned above the normal path of movement of carriers along the chute, and means operable by said feeler upon contact therewith of an abnormally positioned carrier in the chute, for actuating a signal device.

3. A carrier dispatch system comprising a central station having a guidevvay for carriers, an open trough having converging sides which diverge from said guideway and merge into a tubular sleeve at the delivery end of the trough, a pneumatic conveyer tube secured to said sleeve for receiving carriers from the smaller end of the mughgand a ylever `device arranged at that .Quart Q'fgths-ztrough; Where .its sides merge :into

Chesleeve, said flever constituting 'an Lele,- .i

of K4thetrough'with improperly positioned carriers. Y

4. A carrier dispatch system comprising a central station apparatus having an inclined open trough for carriers, said trough having converging sides, a conveyer or receiving carriers from saidl trough, a movable member depending into the open end of the trough a distance permitting normally positioned carriers to pass freely beneath it but to be struck by carriers riding upon others, and contact means engageable by said movable member for completing an alarm circuit to indicate abnormal position of carriers in said trough.

5. A carrier dispatch system comprising a chute having side Walls, a bracket carried by one of said Walls, a lever pivotally mounted upon the bracket and having a depending arm positioned above the chute but spaced from the path of normally positioned carriers in the chute, and a pair of normally separated contacts forming terminals of an electrical signalling system, said lever having a second arm operable to move said contacts into engagement to close the circuit upon actuation of the first arm by Va misplaced carrier in the chute.

6. A carrier dispatch system comprising a central station having a guidevvay, means for moving carriers therealong, a trough diverging from said guideway, said trough being of smaller cross section at its dis-v charge than at its receiving end, a conveyer tube connected to the discharge end of the trough, and a lever having an arm depending into the trough at a point adjacent to its smaller end, the end of said arm being spaced from the bottom of the trough a distance slightly greater than the diameter `of a carrier, said lever being constructed and arranged to complete a signal circuit `when moved by a carrier improperly positioned in the trough.

7. A carrier dispatch system comprising a chute having spaced side Walls, a boss projecting from the upper part of one of saidrwalls and a bracket integral with the boss, a lever pivotally supported upon the bracket and having an arm overhanging the trough, an insulating block mounted on the bracket, a pair of normally spaced contact elements supported by the block, said lever having a second arm engageable With one of said contacts for moving it to- Ward the other contact, and an electrical alarm system of which the contacts constitute terminals.

8. A carrier dispatch system comprisin in combination a chute, an insulating bloc ments into engagement and va second arm overhanging the chute and actuable by an abnormally positioned carrier therein.

Signed by me at Syracuse, New York, this thirty-first day of January, 1923.

JOHN A. BAUER. 

